The middle of the summer of 1977 was not quite nine months after René Lévesque’s unsettling PQ victory in the November 1976 Quebec provincial election. And it was at this point that the Anglo-American economist and philosopher Kenneth Boulding told the 44th annual Couchiching Conference in Ontario : Canada is an “absurd country straight out […]
Australia’s June employment numbers were released today, and they caused some domestic concern: “Australia’s employers cut 27,000 jobs last month, sending the jobless rate higher.” The national unemployment rate actually increased to 5.2%, up from 5.1% in May 2012. But hey, wait a minute. Our Canada-wide unemployment rate in June was 7.2%. As some like […]
There is something to be said for the argument that sowing confusion among his enemies has become one of the mature Stephen Harper’s most skilfully wielded political weapons. And, whatever else, yesterday’s 2012 federal budget succeeds brilliantly at the task. As a case in point see “Ministers tout ‘modest’ Tory plan to slash spending, shrink […]
Susan Bonner on CBC TV, reporting from Washington, had just said that the new Canada-US border deal (aka US-Canada border deal ) just wasn’t on anyone’s radar in the USA. No one there was paying attention. So I was a little surprised when, flipping to my favourite US political TV channel, MSNBC, I saw the […]
A little too unhappily, this week began with reports from our Canadian banks on slower growth prospects for the domestic economy. See, eg, on Monday, September 12: “Canada’s growth to slow, RBC says” ; and then, just one day later: “Canada could be 1st into recession, bank warns.” At the bottom of these prognostications were […]
It used to be the Canadian English language newspaper of record. It may be somewhat less than that now? But the current online version is still where a person like me looks first, laid back on the waterfront in a much-hated big city. And here’s what I seem to be getting, at the end of […]
Shortly before 1 PM ET today it was announced that the “proposed merger of the TMX Group Inc. with the London Stock Exchange Group PLC is dead.” As explained by the official TMX statement: “TMX Group Inc. has agreed with London Stock Exchange Group plc (LSEG) to terminate their merger agreement … A majority of […]
In 1933 the incomparable Percy Robinson published his still too-neglected minor classic, Toronto during the French Regime, 1615—1793. In the book’s last chapter he noted how, in the 1930s, the capital city of Ontario (then still only the second-largest city in Canada, behind Montreal) was “the citadel of British sentiment in America.” Over the subsequent […]
Assuming it’s real, the recent CBC news story “Cannabis electric car to be made in Canada” offers various varieties of food for thought. In fact the story is so intriguing that it’s all too easy to think it’s too good to be true. This is just the CBC trying to get back at Stephen Harper, […]
[UPDATED AUGUST 24, 25, 27]. We first heard the (almost certainly false?) prophecy that the Bank of Montreal is in some kind of quite serious difficulty from twitterings on the net. One source is something called Washington’s Blog, which posted a short piece headlined “Is the Bank of Montreal (Canada’s 4th Largest Bank) About to […]
